Moments before 1 o'clock on a recent school day - the exact moment when the bank was reviewing the loan application of the Community School of West Seattle - director Sarah Airhart spoke to the whole school, asking the students to shut their eyes.

"I asked them to shut their eyes and to think happy money thoughts," Airhart recalls.

For anyone who knows the Community School well, the result was typically empowering. The school received the loan, and Airhart spread the good news to the students.

"When I told the students we'd received the loan, every single one of them went to their parents and said: 'I saved the school. I saved the school.' The playground was filled with jubilant children."

A classic scene - one of many - created by the enormous respect and sense of play Airhart and her staff bring to children's education. To many parents, there's no place like the humble edifice on 22nd and Roxbury to empower kids. The colorful flags waving outside symbolize - for this parent - the freedom within. The respect for children and the acknowledgement of their innate value, wisdom and creativity permeates everyone and everything within the walls.

"Be the Change You Want to See in the World" reads an echo from Ghandi on a painted door outside, and Airhart, a native Englishwoman who was "everyone's favorite babysitter" quotes that saying often. Airhart worked with the Boys and Girls Club in the San Francisco's Mission District. At the Community School, a recently hired teacher was found through an ad describing the school asking for an instructor with pink hair and a nose ring. Art is ever present, with generous studios and sensory tables, which change daily and pull from nature. Teachers emphasize Compassionate Communication and parents are always welcome.

The Community School is the kind of place where dreams come true - even those that need to come true fast.

Airhart was interviewed last week after the triumph of the school's auction and capital campaign to raise funds to purchase the building. In an extraordinarily quick turnaround, the school raised $20,000 through donations and $18,000 through an auction - enough to keep the school in the location it's called home since September 2003. The board, fundraising committee and auction organizer Kimberly McDonald managed to raise all this money in a breathtaking 48 days.

"We raised it all by ourselves; no grants, no endowments, no corporate sponsorship," Airhart says. "People worked hard for this. People made sacrifices to do this. People took out loans to do this. This is a triumph of our community, which all came together to put make this happen."

For the auction, a parent who is a performing belly dancer danced in jewels, a velvet turquoise dress and a sword precariously balanced on her "I Dream of Jeannie" hair, and another parent working donated a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Parent Kimberly McDonald says she was willing to organize the auction because of her experience in fundraising and auctions and her appreciation of the school. "They provide what I need to be a good mother. They're flexible about how many days my kids attend. What I really like about the school is they let my children play. It's a great school."

A year ago, the non-profit school was unable to quality for full funding; ShoreBank Cascadia granted a loan for $400,000 for the $600,000 purchase. Airhart and her board thought they had a year and a half to raise $200,000. Turns out they had 90 days. In May, a developer made an unsolicited offer that the owner Gene Tonnemaker could not refuse. However, he gave the school 90 days to raise the money.

"None of this would have been possible without Gene's support, because he really has been amazing."

Airhart admits to freaking out when she heard the news, but by the next day, she and the board were on track, working with ShoreBank Cascadia, collecting items for a bookkeeper, and, in the end, qualifying for a $550,000 loan. From there, Airhart and the board raised the additional money, which compliments the $10,000 Airhart had originally put down.

Board member Kirsten Anawalt, whose three daughters have attended or are attending the school, compliments Airhart's bold vision and the "high level of emotional and social I.Q." created through the school's emphasis on empowered communication and learning through play. "Sarah has such confidence with herself, with who she is, with where she is going."

Passionately focused, Airhart says she fully expects to run the school for the current crop's children, and beyond. Almost 15 percent of her population is on scholarship. Airhart is aware that she's offering what the top early childhood educators recommend - "and really, what we know to be true in our own souls" - and also values the spirit of respect and contribution imbuing the school with joy.

"To us, the children are the curriculum. We incorporate what they offer into our classrooms everyday."

Airhart, a mother of two whose husband Jason is active in the school as well, says the work is her life's passion. She seems perfectly positioned as humanitarian, CEO, visionary and child guru with her enormous heart.

"There is something about this place that is very special and the people who come here get that. We trust children for who they are. And we create an environment where families feel connected."

Parents often talk about how she keeps the whole school running with such a generous spirit. Taking a deep breath, Airhart smiles, saying: "This is not my job; it's my life. I feel inspired every day. I feel like I'm creating, every day. I feel like a poet."

Leslie Holdcroft is a Community School parent and West Seattle freelance writer and may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com